Pieris 'Mountain Fire' Red-White - Hardy plant

Plant your Pieris japonica as soon as possible upon receipt, in a pot or planter. Choose one with holes in the base for good drainage. Cover the base with potsherds or a layer or hydro-pellets. Add some fresh potting compost and plant your Pieris at the correct depth. Add more soil to cover and press firmly in. Water immediately and stand the pot in full sun or part shade. Line a porous pot on the inside with plastic before planting, or use a plastic inner pot. This helps prevent evaporation - the plant will dry out less quickly.
Or, plant your Pieris japonica in the garden. Prepare a wide hole and loosen the soil thoroughly with a fork. Plant your Pieris japonica at the correct depth - the top of the root ball should come to just slightly below soil level. Fill the hole with soil, heel well in and water immediately. Pieris japonica will thrive in moist, fairly acidic soil in a sheltered spot. Improve poor soil with the addition of some well-rotted compost.
  Pieris japonica in the garden The abundant flowering and evergreen leaves make Pieris japonica the perfect potted plant on an autumn patio or decking. Beautiful when combined with other evergreens like Viburnum tinus 'Gwenllian' and Leucothoe 'Scarletta'. But even in the ground, this slow growing shrub looks beautiful, grown together with Rhododendron. Pieris japonica will always catch the eye, in any border!
 

Water your Pieris japonica regularly, do not allow the root ball to dry out. For abundant growth and flowering, Bakker recommends feeding regularly when watering.

Pieris japonica in the winter
Although this is a perfectly hardy shrub, severe winters can see it lose some branches. To prevent this entirely, you would do well to give it some frost protection with the use of garden fleece or straw matting.
The potted shrubs are of course more sensitive to frost. Stand it in a light frost-free area (the shed perhaps - or at least next to a south facing wall), sheltered from the wind. Protect this evergreen shrub against severe frost with a garden fleece or straw matting wrapped around the pot. Don't forget to water it over the winter too.
  Pruning Pieris japonica It's not necessary to prune this shrub but you can if you like. Keep in mind that this is a slow growing shrub.
Frost damaged and dead branches can be cut hard back in March. You can remove any crossing branches entirely, immediately after flowering.
 

There are many cultivars of Pieris japonica available. They vary in colour and size of the flowers, bud colour, leaf colour and growth habit. The often striking tinted, mostly white or pink, flowers of the Pieris japonica grow in dense clusters. After flowering new leaves appear at the end of the branches. The young leaves have a red tint which later turn green and slightly leathery. Flower buds appear again in the autumn and the leaves remain on the plant year round. There are some compact varieties around that are most suitable for the smaller garden or border. Pieris japonica is a slow growing shrub that will keep pretty in the border for a long time. It can also tolerate being pruned. All in all, this is a shrub with year round decorative value and really should be in every garden.
Pieris is classified under the heath family (Ericaceae).